The mother of a young girl killed in last night’s road tragedy in Inishowen has passed away.
The young mother, who was in her 20s and understood to be from Carndonagh, passed away at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast this evening.
Her six year old daughter died at the scene of the tragedy at Glentogher outside Carndonagh last night.
A Garda statement has just confirmed “A female passenger of the car, aged six years, was fatally injured.
“The driver of the car, a woman aged in her 20s, who was transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, has since passed away.”
The young family were left devastated following a sudden two vehicle collision on the outskirts of the Inishowen town of Carndonagh last night.
A car and a van collided in the townland of Glentogher between Carndonagh and Quigley’s Point just after 6.30pm.
Emergency services rushed to the scene.
However, a six year old girl was pronounced dead at the scene while three other people in the same car were rushed to Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
The deaths of the mother and daughter brings to TEN the number of people to die on Donegal’s roads so far this year.
A female child, who was a rear passenger, is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries in that hospital also.
A male front seat passenger (30s) is being treated for non-life-threatening injuries at Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry.
All are believed to be members of the same family unit.
A priest at the centre of last night’s road tragedy has spoken of his utter sadness at visiting the family in hospital as medics battled to help those caught up in the collision.
Parish priest of Carndonagh, Fr Con McLaughlin said he will never forget the scenes which met him in the Accident and Emergency unit of Altnagelvin Hospital.
Fr McLaughlin said he was not at the scene of the tragedy but rushed to the hospital in an effort to provide comfort for those involved.
He revealed “On hearing about the accident I went straight over to Altnagelvin Hospital and the scene (in accident and emergency) is something I will never forget.
“In the community there is a shock and a disbelief. One can only imagine what the family are going through and I witnessed that pain in the hospital last night.
“The scene in the hospital was just so, so sad. You had doctors and nurses running around trying to do their best to help these poor helpless people. It is something I will never, ever forget.
“I just wanted to be a presence there for the family and I did not speak too much but I just wanted them to know that we are all there for them.”
Fr McLaughlin said the people of Inishowen are once again suffering tragedy on their roads, an epxerience they are sadly too used to.
He added “Pain is no stranger to the people of Inishowen as there has been so, so many tragic deaths. I remember being present in Buncrana when there was a series of multiple deaths there between 2005 and 2008 and once again tragedy has struck our people and I’m quite sure it revives many painful memories for many people in Inishowen as indeed it does for me.”
“We can visualise how they must feel at this time and how the wider community feels and how people have suffered tragedies in the past as there have been so many in Inishowen.
“I just cant words to express how people will feel today and how I personally feel too having been involved in some of them in the past.”
“People will rally but nonetheless we have one little child dead.”
Local Donegal County Councillor Joy Beard said that one again the Inishowen Peninsula had been stunned into silence and plunged into grief by another tragedy on its roads.
“The entire community is just numb and once again just lost for words. There are simply no words at this time.
“Inishowen has known more than its fair share of tragedy on its roads over the years and it has happened again.
“All we can do is to simply pray for this poor child and to pray that the other poor people involved make a recovery.
“Our thoughts and prayers are also with the emergency services who attended the scene and who work under tremendous pressure but who always put others first in such difficult circumstances,” she said.
The scene of the tragedy remains closed as Gardai carry out a full forensic examination into the possible cause of the tragedy.
Head of the Garda Traffic Corps in Donegal, Inspector Sean McDaid of Buncrana Garda Station, has appealed for witnesses to the collision.
He has appealed for any witnesses, particularly any road users who may have camera footage (including dash-cam) to contact Buncrana Garda Station, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or any garda station.
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